Senate Proposes Bill To Create Agency For Repentant Boko Haram Members

An agency for repentant Boko Haram members could be created as a bill was proposed to that effect at the upper chamber during plenary on Thursday.

The bill was sponsored by Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe East senatorial district.

Already a subject of fierce push back, the bill offers further concession to Boko Haram militants who choose to cease fire.

Last month, the Nigerian military said no fewer than 608 repentant Boko Haram insurgents were undergoing the De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DRR) programme under its Operation Safe Corridor in Malam-Sidi, Gombe State.

Clients, the military euphemism for the repentant insurgents, were said to have been exposed to formal literacy classes, skills acquisition and Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK) as well as drug and psycho-therapists during their training.

Various condemnations have continued to trail the step as widows of slain soldiers had condemned the Federal Government for rehabilitating ex-Boko Haram terrorists.

Odunews.com also reported that some Soldiers facing the insurgents kicked against the Operation Safe Corridor and even suggested that some of the ‘assumed’ repentant Boko Haram members still find their way back to join the sect.